Mongolian Beef - Keto, Whole30, and Gluten-Free

On Sunday, I made Paleo Mongolian Beef which is a Whole30, Keto, Gluten-Free recipe. It was a pin on Pinterest that led to I Heart Umami.

The recipe sounded easy enough to prepare with minimal ingredients. I was really looking forward to making and trying this recipe. Although the prep time was supposed to be about 15 minutes, it took longer than that. The cook time, also, was a bit longer than the 10 minutes that the recipe said.

We felt like it was a rather salty recipe. I don't know if it was the soy sauce and fish sauce - maybe half the amount or eliminating the fish sauce would have been better. It also wasn't as spicy as I thought - even with the garlic, ginger, and hot peppers.

At any rate, I won't be making this recipe again. It's still worthwhile to try new recipes and expand what we eat, though

Ingredients

Beef Marinade:

• 2 lb skirt steak, beef flap, or sirloin, thinly sliced against the grain
• 4 tbsp coconut aminos (I used soy sauce because I couldn't find coconut aminos in the store)
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 4 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 2 tsp arrowroot starch (I used corn starch since there was such a small amount and I'm not doing a strict Whole30 program at this point)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 6-8 tbsp avocado or olive oil

Aromatics:

• 6 large cloves garlic, finely minced
• 6-inch length thinly sliced ginger from index through ring finger quantity
• 4 whole red chili peppers (fresno or serrano), remove seeds, slice to thin strips
• 6 bulbs scallions, cut into 3-inch length. Separate white and green parts.

Instructions:

1. Thin slice beef against the grain. Add ingredients from coconut aminos to baking soda. Mix well and set aside in the fridge.
2. In the meantime, prepare garlic, ginger, scallions, separate white and green parts, and remove the chili pepper seeds and slice them to thin strips
3. In a well-heated stainless steel skillet or cast iron, add 2 tbsp cooking fat. Pan fry the beef in one layer without disturbing over medium-high heat until crisp brown, about 2 minutes then quickly sear the flip side, about 30 seconds. Set the beef and the pan juice aside.
4. Start the skillet dry and add 1 more tbsp cooking oil, saute aromatics with a pinch of salt until fragrant, about 1 minute.
5. Add beef back to the skillet and green scallion parts. Quickly toss to coat the flavor for another 30 seconds. Serve hot and immediately.